by jboullion | Oct 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jim Dawson and Devin Powell on MinnPost.com:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Team members from the University of Minnesota were tense as they prepared their 565 square foot solar home for a visit by jurors from the engineering and lighting judging panels. Experts in their respective fields, the jurors’ visit would determine the team’s score for the aesthetics and functionality aspects of their design that cannot be properly evaluated by measurements alone.
The judges would also be taking comfort zone and appliance measurements, and the students were worried about every operational detail inside their $501,000 house.
The Minnesota team was in 7th place out of the 20 teams that built entirely solar-powered homes on the National Mall in downtown Washington as part of the Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon competition. . . .
At the other end of the Mall, the team from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was struggling. The team was in last place, and were struggling to get the house’s sliding doors to move smoothly on their tracks. Their house, valued at $485,000, had tabletops made out of pressed paper and cashew shells and the ability to warm up just from the heat of the people inside.
But its last-place standing reflected a 3-inch problem in the design.
“The west end of the house was 3 inches too tall to go through Indiana [on the transport trailer],” said Eric Davis, the project’s chief engineer. “So we had to go down through Illinois, then cross Kentucky.”
There was another height regulation problem when they got to the edge of Washington, and it took another 20 hours to finally get their structure to the National Mall. While the other teams were fine tuning their home’s systems, the Wisconsin team was still wearing hard hats and putting their house together.
“We missed the metering contest, so our score is down,” Davis said.
by jboullion | Oct 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement by the Waukesha County Environmental Action League:
Water is on its way to becoming the oil of the 21st century. World water shortages brought about by increasing demand of growing populations and the results of mis-use and overuse of water, in conjunction with globalization, and the privatization of government roles and responsibilities, are adding up to what may be a world water crisis. While improved technology and new and alternate sources may provide answers to the energy crunch, no scientists have discovered how to make more water yet.
Two award-winning documentary films begin to address this issue: “Thirst” and “FLOW” (For Love of Water). Beginning on Sept. 23, WEAL (Waukesha County Environmental Action League) will show these films around the County.
Think of it as the “No Excuses Film Fest”:
Seven showings (“Thirst” — 4 showings. “FLOW” — 3 showings.)
On different nights of the week
From Sept 23 to Oct 22, 2009
At locations all around the County
Free parking at easily accessible Public Libraries**
Free admission
Light refreshments
Discussion to follow
by jboullion | Oct 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
Students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee assemble their solar-powered house in preparation for the start of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009.
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee architecture and engineering students have erected one of 20 buildings in a solar village that has risen on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Over the past two years, the students designed a small, energy-efficient solar home on campus, as part of the Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
After being built on campus, the home was taken down in pieces and shipped to Washington, where it was put back together over the past week.
UWM is one of 20 teams selected to compete in the Solar Decathlon and is the first entrant in the competition from Wisconsin.
“We’re excited about it,” said Greg Thomson, assistant professor of architecture. “We’re happy to be there. There’s a big chunk of the Big Ten, and also teams that are made up of multiple universities.”
The competition is international – with teams funded in part by the governments of Germany and Spain.
The UWM home – named Meltwater – features 28 solar panels producing electricity and two solar panels powering a hot water system. The name was chosen because its design was inspired by the power of the sun to melt the glaciers and create the Great Lakes.
The students and faculty involved in the project designed a home that would be comfortable in Wisconsin’s climate.
The walls are extra thick and injected with more than twice the insulation of a typical Wisconsin home, Thomson said.
Photo by Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
by jboullion | Oct 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by We Energies:
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — We Energies, Alstom and The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced today that a pilot project testing an advanced chilled ammonia process has demonstrated more than 90 percent capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flue stream of at a coal-fueled power plant in Wisconsin.
At a press conference at We Energies’ Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, which hosted the project, We Energies Chairman, President and CEO Gale Klappa, Alstom U.S. President Pierre Gauthier, and EPRI Senior Vice President Hank Courtright discussed the demonstration of Alstom’s patented chilled ammonia process for carbon capture. Testing at the pilot facility, using a 1.7-megawatt (electric) slipstream from the plant, began in early 2008 and will conclude later this year.
The project confirmed the predicted performance of the chilled ammonia carbon capture system at an operating power plant. It achieved key research metrics around hours of operation, ammonia release, CO2 removal levels, and CO2 purity. In doing so, the project demonstrated the fundamental viability of the carbon capture technology in real-world conditions such as changes in temperature and humidity, the inevitable starts and stops of a large power plant, and the environmental hurdles that go along with using any chemical process.
“One of the biggest challenges facing our industry is the development of cost effective technology that will allow us to capture carbon from the operation of power plants around the world,” said Klappa. “Today, with the success we’re reporting from the research here at Pleasant Prairie, the solution is one step closer to reality.”
by jboullion | Oct 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Christine Won in the Racine Journal Times:
RACINE – Bernie Hoff, 59, of Racine, said she and her family enjoyed the comforts of commuter rail when they were living in a Chicago suburb 24 years ago before they moved to Racine.
“We saw commuter rail is such an asset to the area,” said Hoff, who was at a transit forum Wednesday night. “We can’t understand why they don’t have it here.”
More than 130 people attended the community forum “Tapping into Transit as a Game-Changer” Wednesday night at the DeKoven Center, 600 21st St. The forum, hosted by Racine Transit Task Force and Transit NOW, highlighted the benefits of public transit and specifics of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project. The Task Force is a group working to improve transit for Racine.
Different community leaders appealed on the behalf of the community, businesses, labor unions and students for a public transit system.
Mayor John Dickert, one of the speakers, stressed the importance for interconnectivity of commuter rail, high-speed rail and buses to work together to move Racine forward. He addressed concerns about how much the commuter rail project would cost and pointed out putting in another lane in I-94 is costing $1 billion.
